Waiting For You
by Fei Xue
Summary: If Tara was granted a goodbye, what would she say?


Waiting For You

By Tyrael a.k.a. LiangFeng

Edited and Beta Read by Kooritenshi

To people on Fanfiction.Net: I thought I'd go out with a bang. My last post for you guys, then it's off to Extra Flamey and the Kitten Board. I'm known as LiangFeng on the Kitten, the Witches, and the Bad Wardrobe.

Note: For maximum angst, play music while reading.

Disclaimer: Characters belong to Joss Whedon. BUT HE DOESN'T DESERVE TARA OR WILLOW! "Right Here Waiting For You" by Richard Marx.

Summary: Willow visits Tara after Season 6. Bold is Willow's thoughts. Italics are lyrics.

Willow Rosenburg knew better than to go out alone during the night. She knew of the things that walked the darkness and the monsters that lived off the shadows. But what did she care? She used to be one of them anyways. 

She felt the wooden stake in her pocket with her right hand. God help anyone or anything that would dare interfere with this moment, keep her from the place where she was going. Her special place, her sacred place, she was going to visit her beloved.

_Oceans apart, day after day_

_And I slowly go insane_

_I hear your voice on the line_

_But it doesn't stop the pain_

In her left hand were a bundle of flowers. Fragrant with a sweet-smelling scent it didn't do to assuage Willow's sorrow. But to what sorrow? She should be glad to be visiting Tara. After all, way back when Willow used to love visiting Tara and spending every spare moment of her time with the blonde witch. Visiting Tara had always brought her happiness. And so Willow would be happy, it was a first time in a long time since she saw her girlfriend. Or rather since she was able to put herself together to see her, a major understatement but so was a lot of things.

Like that you could even call what Willow felt "sorrow". To call it sorrow would do no justice to the dead and emptiness she had inside. A big Tara-shaped void in her heart and soul. But then again her heart and soul were Tara-shaped to begin with. You do the math.

_I see you next to never_

_How can we say forever?_

Willow finally reached Tara's place. It was big; actually, compared to the others it had more space. It was nestled under a weeping willow tree, something Buffy had chosen for her best friend's girlfriend. Besides, the Slayer knew that, wherever she was, Tara loved it.

Willow dropped the flowers onto the grave, and forced a smiled through tears. "Hey baby. How's it going?"

Her voice cracked loudly and Willow cursed to herself. She promised herself she wouldn't cry. She already did that! Hastily wiping her eyes, she swiftly made to apologize. On reflex her mind reeled from the world outside and lapsed into the more secure and safer places.

_Where ever you do_

_Whatever you do_

_I will be right here waiting for you_

_Whatever it takes_

_Or how my heart breaks_

_I will be right here waiting for you_

Then suddenly she was back on the rooftop of the Magic Box, lying on her sleeping bag with Tara. She recognized it as a memory she had locked deep within herself, treasured forever. Without a second thought, she gave into the comfort it offered gratefully.

"And the Big Pineapple." The blonde had smiled, pointing out her personalized constellation. 

**Tara? Is that you?**

= = = 

She crawled towards her lover, seeming so far away and distant. Like it was a dream and she was actually staying in one place and it was an eternity before she was holding Tara in her arms, sobbing with relief.

"Willow? I got so lost!" Tara wept, clutching Willow to her desperately.

"I found you!" She gasped for air, barely able to hold herself together. "I will always find you!" Not even a Hell-god was able to tear them apart.

**I miss you.**

= = =

_I took it for granted, all of the times_

_That I thought it would last somehow_

_I hear the laughter_

_I taste the tears_

_But I can't get near you now_

"What if they're lost somewhere?" Anya cried frantically, the thought of Xander wandering forever in the dark woods drove the ex-demon into a panic.

"No, lost is good. Willow and I always know how to find each other." Tara said calmly, a smile in her voice as she proceeded to climb onto the table.

**Can you hear me?**

= = = 

"N-No, I understand. You have to be with the person you l-love." Tara fingered the candle, her voice breaking as she tried so hard to put the torn pieces of her heart together.

"I am." Came the smug reply.

**Where did you go?**

= = = 

_Oh can't you see it baby?_

_You've got me going crazy_

The redhead dropped to her knees in front of the grave and buried her face in her hands, as the memories receded. How could this be? How could it that when Tara was finally returned to her, she was taken back again? Why had the Goddess recalled the memories of past to her? And one of them she could not have possibly known.

"Why did you leave me, Tara? Why?" She said softly to her dead lover. "Was the Goddess so cruel, didn't she feel our joy when we came back together?" She reached a hand out to brush the cold polished surface of the gravestone, it's chilling feel reached her weary bones.

"Didn't she hear our hearts sing?" Willow's voice escalated higher in volume, with anger and hate tinged with sadness. "Didn't she see our tears fall when you left me?"

"Didn't she?! Didn't SHE?!" Willow screamed, her voice shrill with emotion. "Why Tara! Why did you have to die, baby? Why did you leave me?!" She pleaded to her girlfriend.

_Wherever you go_

_Whatever you do_

_I will be right here waiting for you_

_Whatever it takes_

_Or how my heart breaks_

_I will be right here waiting for you_

Tears blinded her vision, coursed down her jaw-line to drip off onto the ground. Her soul was torn to shreds; her heart had died along with the witch. There was nothing left of Willow, only a dead empty shell.

She pitched forward and fell heavily to the cold earth, wet with her sadness. Curling into a ball, she cried out her tears quietly to herself. "Why couldn't I save you?"

Her mind drifted back to when Tara was alive, and when they would sit in their room on the bed and talk on for hours. Just talking. And eventually Tara would look at her, her eyes would light up and her full lips would gently curl upwards into a half-smile. "I love you." It said.

Then Willow would kiss her, not hungrily, not in want, but gently and passionately, returning the feelings. She would make love to Tara. And as each piece of clothing came off so did the outside world. They would become lost in each other, in their love.

Nothing in the world had ever been able to tear their love apart. Every time someone came along that was foolish enough to come between the two lovers, they dealt with it…together. And in the end their love grew ten times stronger. 

When Tara's family came to take her away, Willow chased them off with proclamations of her love for Tara. When Oz returned, it was their hearts that automatically drew together, showing Willow that Oz was nothing compared to Tara. When Glory rose from the depths of Hell and ripped Tara's sanity from her, Willow found her beloved yet again.

_I wonder how we can survive_

_This romance_

_But in the end if I'm with you_

_I'll take the chance_

Nothing had ever stood in their way. Nothing was able to break the bond between them. Not even when Tara died. Their love stood firm. Willow found their love but Tara was lost.

"Willow? Willow is that you?" A voice, so distant but then again so near called to her "Get up." It sounded like her…it _felt_ like her. But how could it be?

Tara?

"God, is THAT me?" The same voice said in amazement, obviously indicating the grave. "Hm…nice marble."

Willow lifted herself up on the ground and looked into smiling blue eyes. Her breath was caught in her throat. "How…?" She managed to choke out.

"You found me." Tara said simply as her hand brushed the red strands of hair, caked with dirt, from Willow's face. The blonde smiled in an attempt to be brave for her Willow.

"You're…" She gasped, hardly daring to believe that her dead girlfriend now stood animate before her. She didn't seem like a ghost; her hands, her body were real and warm. She thought she would go insane with happiness but then mad with anger. Her heart was like a rubber band, stretched this way, and then another way, almost bound to snap but at greater multitudes,

"Dead." Tara said sadly. "I can't stay, the Powers That Be granted me a goodbye but that's all."

Willow was speechless, but as she looked at the beautiful woman who knelt beside her she cried. "No! Don't go! Don't leave me!"

Tara's heart broke all over again looking at the suffering that marred Willow's face. "I'll never leave you." Tara said softly. "I'll be in here." She tapped Willow's temple gently. "And here most of all." She rested her hand on Willow's chest.

"It's not the same."

"No it isn't, but I'll still be around." Tara grasped Willow's hand in hers and kissed her fingertips ever so lovingly. "Thank you for finding me." She whispered so low Willow had to strain her ears to hear.

"You can't go!" Willow blurted out loud, tears stinging at her eyes once again. "Not again! I…I-I'll go with you! Anything! Anything for you, just don't leave me!"

"No!" The usually calm sorceress' resolve flared brilliantly. She held the ex-dark witch firmly by her shoulders and shook her gently. "Willow, listen to me. It's not your time-"

"It wasn't yours either!" Willow screamed, higher for her cracked voice. "How could they? How could they, Tara?"

Tara was silenced, her eyes dark with sadness for Willow.

_Oh can't you see it baby?_

_You've got me going crazy_

"You were mine!" The hacker continued. "And I was yours! Not even Glory, a ruler of Hell could deny us! Who are they to say that we don't belong together…"Fresh tears fell from the wells of green unchecked. "You were only twenty-two, I only found you again and then you were lost to me forever. You were with me again for eight hours. Just eight. Your life shouldn't-_couldn't_ have ended like that…"

"And yet it did, Willow. And there's nothing that we could do to change that." Tara shook her head. "And within those eight hours, we reclaimed each other. We made memories. You'll look back and say "That was the night I made love to you before you died." And you'll love it, Willow, because what we had was pure love. Truly and forever."

"That memory will be what we hold on to, until we see each other again. And until _then_, I will be waiting for you." She kissed Willow's forehead and eyes, tasting the bitter mourning on her lips. "Take care of them, Buffy, Dawn…the others. And most of all take care of you. Goodbye, my angel."

_Wherever you go_

_Whatever you do_

_I will be right here waiting for you_

_Whatever it takes_

_Or how my heart breaks_

_I will be right here waiting for you_

Tara gathered Willow into her arms and kissed her one last goodbye. Willow kissed back knowing this was all that she could hold onto now. This woman in her arms who was gradually fading away, trusting Willow's heart to mend and for her soul to come together.

Then Tara broke the kiss and stood up alongside Willow. She took Willow's hand and squeezed it gently. She walked backwards towards her final resting place with her eyes still trained on her girlfriend, never letting go of Willow until the distance proved too great and they had to let go. Willow watched as Tara became ethereal and then dissipated against the tombstone.

==

Hours later, Willow woke up. Her body was chilled to the bone for having cried herself to sleep in the middle of the cemetery. Too preoccupied from last night's encounter to ask herself why didn't some vampire just eat her, she dragged her numb body up and staggered to her feet.

_A dream…_

It was just a dream, Willow thought sadly. But how could it? It was too vivid, too real, she could still taste Tara on her lips. No, it couldn't possibly…*But then again dreams were the deepest wishes of the heart. 

She continued to stand there for sometime before walking away. If she would've stayed for just a moment longer she could've heard the trees shaking and rattling, and the grass whistling as the wind swept across the earth, carrying the whispered voice.

"I'll be waiting for you, my love."

_Waiting for you…_

**End**

Review! PLEASE! I beg of you! And it would be nice if you could be gentle? I'm _trying_ to go out with a "bang" here, people! Thank you for reading. Bye everyone! Hugs and kisses! I'll miss you all! (Bows one last time and waves)

*Borrowed from someone's signature over at The Kitten, The Witches, and The Bad Wardrobe.


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